http://gendercentre.com/volunteer/

Casual volunteer opportunities enable you to assist ZBGC without the ongoing commitment of joining our Working Group. They can also be a good stepping-stone to further, longer-term volunteering with ZBGC.

If you’re looking for a tangible way of contributing to the health and wellbeing of Victoria’s sex and/or gender diverse community, check out our casual volunteer listings today!

Conceived by Tara Brooks, this event went viral on Facebook, resulting in hundreds of people turning up to Edinburgh Gardens on a perfect spring day on Sunday 14 October.

Members of the ZBGC Working Group donned ZBGC badges and collected money from picnic goers. The event raised a grand total of $719.85 for ZBGC, which will be vital for our work in 2013.

Many thanks to Tara Brooks and to everyone who came along and supported ZBGC!

Above: Happy picnic goer wearing a ZBGC badge that can’t be seen properly due to the photo being taken on a dodgy camera phone. (Photo: ZBGC)

The Reference Group will be made up of Sex and Gender Diverse people to ensure that the ZBGC Youth Project reflects community needs and interests, specifically those of young people. It will prioritize the first hand knowledge and expertise we bring about the issues that we face.

The ZBGC Youth Project will develop and provide feedback into new and existing resources and training material for health and human service providers, to further develop their understanding of working with our community. It will also act as a contact point for service workers needing information on supporting young sex and gender diverse clients.

The Reference Group will share ideas and knowledge of the experiences and needs of the community.

The group will meet every three months, with the first meeting proposed for Wednesday the 21^st of November at 6:00 pm in Footscray.

Please do not hesitate to get in contact me (see details below) if you have further questions, or for futher information.

Hope to hear from you!

Zoe Birkinshaw
Youth Project Officer
(03) 8398 4131
zoebirkinshaw@gendercentre.com

Above: ZBGC Youth Project Officer Zoe Birkinshaw and Markus Middling at a recent training session on sex and gender diverse issues, jointly presented by ZBGC and WayOut rural Victorian youth and sexual diversity project. Markus was a guest speaker on the day – or, as he described it, “a kid that helped out some awesome people”. (Photo: WayOut)

Among our activities, we have been campaigning for the establishment of a community centre for Victoria’s SGD population. We also run a ‘virtual gender centre’ at our website. More recently, we became the first transgender organisation in Victoria to receive government funding – we have been funded to run a youth suicide prevention project.

Would you like to put yourself in this pioneering picture? We are seeking applicants for the following volunteer positions:

Treasurer

Join the ZBGC Working Group and put your skills to work by managing ZBGC‘s general funds. Some additional duties for ZBGC‘s youth suicide prevention project also apply.

You will have an accountancy/business background, and an interest in and appreciation of ZBGC’s vision and mission.

For more information, download the position description (PDF file).

Applications close on Friday 24 August, 5pm.

ICT Support Team Members (Casual)

One of the primary ways that ZBGC is supporting the community is via a ‘virtual gender centre’ at http://gendercentre.com/

Do you have the ICT skills to support ZBGC’s pivotal work? We are seeking volunteers to provide ICT support services to users of ZBGC’s website and members of the ZBGC Working Group. Reporting to ZBGC’s ICT Coordinator, you will undertake such tasks as maintaining and upgrading ZBGC’s ICT systems, resolving technical issues, and providing assistance to end-users.

As long as you have regular access to a reliable internet connection, you can reside anywhere in Australia. You must be available for ~3 hours work per week and be able to commit to providing prompt turnaround of assigned tasks.

For more information, download the position description (PDF file).

There is no deadline for applications for this role.

Our new contact details are below:

Postal address

Zoe Belle Gender Centre
C/- Western Region Health Centre
72 Paisley Street
Footscray, Victoria
Australia 3011

Voicemail

You can leave us a telephone message on +61 3 8398 4134

Would you like to put yourself in this pioneering picture? ZBGC is seeking a project officer with a passion for tackling the problem of suicide among sex and/or gender diverse (SGD) young people.

You will educate service providers about the issues that SGD young people face. This will involve working with a range of other agencies that provide services to same-sex attracted and SGD diverse young people.

You will be a great communicator who can work autonomously, manage your own time and build collaborative relationships.

Wages and conditions: Victorian Public Health Sector (Health and Allied Services, Managers and Administrative Officers) Multiple Enterprise Agreement 2009-2011, Grade 4. Part time 0.3 EFT (2 days per week) (above award rate of $35/hour) plus 9% superannuation. Attractive salary packaging available.

The role is based at Western Region Health Centre in Footscray, with some travel to regional Victoria.

This is an exciting opportunity to make a difference. Download a position description and selection criteria at http://gendercentre.com/participate/jobs/ or for further queries, please contact the ZBGC Working Group (email contact@gendercentre.com; voicemail +61 3 9660 3990).

Applications close on Friday 27 April, 5pm. 

Here’s a recent photo of some members of the ZBGC Working Group and TGV Committee. We had just finished having a good meeting. Also featured in this photo is the Memorandum of Understanding between ZBGC and TGV!

Pictured from left to right: Brenda Appleton (TGV), Lisa Sinclair (ZBGC), Gem de Marco (ZBGC), Tom Cho (ZBGC) and Sally Goldner (TGV)

Does your organisation work with or have plans to work with same sex attracted and/or sex and gender diverse (SSASGD) young people (aged 14 – 25 years)?

The HEY Grants, a brokerage and innovation small grant round, have been established to assist organisations in providing mental health promotion and capacity building activities for SSASGD young people in their local communities. The Youth Affairs Council of Victoria is administering these grants on behalf of the Victorian Department of Health.

Grants of up to $40,000 are available in this round. There is a total fund pool in this round of $186,235. There will be three further grant rounds in 2012, 2013 and 2014. The total allocation over the four years is $762,000.00.

What are the HEY Grants for?

Mental health promotion and community engagement activities that focus on SSASGD young people, aged between 14 and 25 years. The HEY Grants are intended to assist in the development of new and innovative approaches to address and support the mental health of SSASGD young people. By innovative we mean creative, novel, or original ways of working with young people.

Small grants will be distributed to (both specialist SSASGD and mainstream) organisations that aim to develop new ways of engaging SSASG young people in the design and delivery of a range of initiatives such as (but not limited to):

• Social support groups and networks;
• Mainstream anti-homophobia, anti-transphobia and diversity campaigns and programs;
• SSASGD youth leadership, mentoring and peer education;
• Engaging with the emerging SSASGD youth platform to improve the quality and reach of services they provide to SSASGD young people.

How does my organisation apply?

Download the grant guidelines and application form from here:

http://www.yacvic.org.au/sector/detail-participation.chtml?filename_num=399235

Applications must be received by the close of business on Friday March 2nd 2012. Applicants will be notified in April 2012 of the results of the grant round.

All inquiries should be directed to the Youth Affairs Council of Victoria by email gferrari@yacvic.org.au or pdo@yacvic.org.au or phone 03 9267 3799

All grant applications must be sent to:

info@yacvic.org.au (email preferred)

Or hand delivered or posted to:

HEY Grants
c/o YACVic
Level 2
180 Flinders Street
Melbourne Vic 3000

Tickets are $15 (adults) /$8 (under 12s) and all proceeds are donated to ZBGC. Here’s some of the spiel from the official event website:

Get on board for the queerest thing to hit Australian Roller Derby: Battle on the Bent Track 2012!

On January 28 2012, Vagine Regime Victoria will be taking on Vagine Regime NSW to see which queer All Stars team reigns supreme. The showdown will be taking place at Melbourne’s Puckhandler’s stadium from 6pm. Who will take home the title? And most importantly, who will win the Pants-Off Dance Off?

Check out the official event website!
Check out the event on Facebook!
Buy your tickets!

ZBGC regularly receives queries from people in outer Melbourne and regional Victoria who are seeking resources. In particular, these queries are among some of the most frequently-posted questions to our Questions and Answers website. The Q&A site has received queries from the Mildura region, the Mornington Peninsula, Melbourne’s outer south eastern suburbs, and elsewhere.

So how can you help?

• If you know of any resources in outer Melbourne and/or regional Victoria, help us get them listed in our online Resources Directory. Encourage the person or group in question to submit their details using our Suggest/Update a Resource form. Directory listings are free
• Spread the word about this call-out to as many people as you can. Whether it’s via email, tweeting, blogging, posting to Facebook, telephoning or good old-fashioned face-to-face sharing – pass the word around!